People enjoy discussions of their activities with other people. In particular, people enjoy discussing television programs with other people. As a result of such interaction, a person feels more connected to social groups. To be able to comment on a particular television program, a person may need to view the television program. However, if a program that a person views is not the program that was viewed by others in the person's social group, that person may feel excluded from the social group. For example, if Bob thinks that his colleagues are all watching reruns of “Friends”, he may watch a broadcast of “Friends” to be able to discuss the episode the next day. Unfortunately, if his colleagues are all watching a “Doctor Who” marathon, Bob will be unable to discuss “Doctor Who”, causing Bob to feel isolated from and rejected by his colleagues.
Popularity ratings of television programs are available. However, the popularity ratings may not be available until a day after the program is broadcast or later. As a result, a person cannot determine the most popular television programs currently being watched by other people. Unfortunately, after such a delay, the viewing opportunities for the indicated popular television programs have passed, so the person will not be able to watch the popular programs and later discuss them with others. In addition, in order to obtain the popularity ratings, a person must search through magazines, newspapers, or the internet. As a result, a person does not have immediate access to the popularity ratings.
Thus, there remains a need for an improved technique of communicating popularity ratings.